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Wraith

A wraith is the undead spirit of a vengeful and evil human being who died a violent death and left some very important task unfulfilled, most commonly revenge.

With a visceral hatred and jealousy of all living things, the wraith typically exists in a kind of stasis in its chosen lair (usually, but not always, the place where it died) and will begin to activate once a potential victim comes within range.

Usually the first indication of a Wraith nearby is a sudden drop in temperature and a feeling of unease and nausea as the Wraith begins to stir. Then any would be interloper is suddenly and furiously attacked as the Wraith literally bursts out from the walls or from a tree or other resting place and attacks with a blood curdling scream while clawing with its freezing hands.

The suddenness and violence of its attack causes a preternatural fear that only the most stout of heart can resist, while lesser beings are inspired to panic and flee as fast as they can until they are as far away as possible before slowly coming to their senses. But even those not effected by the fear are best advised to run, for while the wraith can glide faster than a human, its body is incorporeal and cannot be harmed by anything but magical weapons – which disrupt its form and cause boiling black clouds of gas to peel away.

The mere touch of a wraith is enough to cause instant paralysis and send the victim into violent convulsions as they are wracked by pain and plunged into a waking nightmare. Once all victims have either been subdued or have run off, the wraith returns to each one, pulling down the veil that usually covers its naked, hideously grinning skull, and feeds directly on the very life essence of its victim, drawing from their breath their life force as tendrils of thick, black smoke.

Wraiths are unable to speak, nor are they capable of reason, driven only by their hidden goals and agendas – which, once fulfilled – allow them to die once and for all. As all wraiths have obscured features, essentially skeletal shapes under black shrouds, it is impossible to identify one wraith from another, and a wraith that steals the life force of a would be intruder is able to call upon these spirits as lesser wraiths to serve in its defense, of which the lesser wraiths are freed upon the second death of their creator.